John G. Koeltl, of United States District Court, said the MTA
“underestimate the tolerant quality of New Yorkers and
overestimate the potential impact of these fleeting
advertisements.”

“Moreover, there is no evidence that seeing one of these
advertisements on the back of a bus would be sufficient to
trigger a violent reaction. Therefore, these ads — offensive as
they may be — are still entitled to First Amendment
protection.”

The advertisement, which came before Judge Koeltl, is a spoof of
an earlier campaign by the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
which encouraged Twitter users to post messages with the hashtag
#MyJihad, which literally translates as ‘struggle’ from Arabic.
Instead of boasting about killing infidels, Muslims would talk
about their peaceful and personal achievements.

In the advert commissioned by the pro-Israeli American Freedom
Defense Initiative (AFDI), a masked man is portrayed, next to the
caption "Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to
Allah" attributed to "Hamas MTV." The tagline below
states, "That's His Jihad. What's yours?" At least 50
MTA buses are to be branded with the adverts, according to New
York Daily News.

After similar campaigns in San Francisco and Chicago, the AFDI
paid $100,000 in 2014 to run 100 adverts on the sides of public
coaches. Five similar images were accepted, but the MTA rejected
this one, over claims it incited violence.

Adam Lisberg, an MTA spokesman, said: "We are disappointed in
the ruling and are reviewing our options. MTA now has 30 days to
lodge an appeal."

“This is a triumph for liberty and free speech,” tweeted
Pamela Geller, the AFDI president, who said that her group would
commission more ads than originally planned, and would seek for
MTA to reimburse its legal costs.

New York’s Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the adverts,
despite them being given the greenlight by the judge.

“These hateful messages serve only to divide and stigmatize
when we should be coming together as one city,” said a
statement from a spokesman. “While those behind these ads
only display their irresponsible intolerance, the rest of us who
may be forced to view them can take comfort in the knowledge that
we share a better, loftier and nobler view of humanity.”

Judge Koeltl’s decision marks the latest victory by the AFDI
against MTA, and is at least the ninth lawsuit it has filed
against metropolitan authorities for turning down its campaigns.

In fact, the MTA’s current rules concerning “inciting
violence” were brought in after the AFDI won another lawsuit
in 2012 after the municipal authority refused to run an advert
calling Palestinians “savages” on the basis that it was
offensive. Then, just as now, the AFDI’s campaign was upheld
thanks to the First Amendment.